MultiURL

MultiURL is another site that allows you to share multiple links to various sites in one simple link.  When you create a group you can provide it a group name, group alias, and a password.  The site starts with 5 possible URL's but you can add more with a click of a button.  You can also give a name to each link as well.  The final step is to create an account so that you can keep track of the MultiURL groups that you create.  The links will never expire as long as they are visited at least once a year. 

You can also create your MultiURL in batch mode if necessary.  When you create your group viewers will have the option to have a toolbar to view the links which provides a view of the website or just multiple links on a single page.  There is also a Wordpress plug-in that takes all the links in a post and creates a MultiURL group for your links.  Pretty cool.

Another useful tool in education for sharing links with students for research or for an extension of a lesson shared in class.  You might also provide links to web 2.0 websites that they can use to create a project.  Using Justpaste.it you can include directions with the assignment.  This could be a very useful tool for students and it is a simple and quick tool to use.

Min.us

Min.us is a Photo sharing site that allows you to drag and drop images from your desktop onto the web browser and the use the images later.  This could be really useful if you want to avoid using a jump drive for photos from a home computer.  Once you drag and drop, the site takes care of the rest.  I tried it out and was pleased with the speed of the drag and drop.  I did 3 photos at the same time.  Min.us displays the photo with the title that you provided it when you saved it, so that could be important, so always save your images with a meaningful name.

Once you drag the photos, Min.us creates two URL's, one for editing and one for sharing, meaning that you can add or remove photos if need be.  You provide a title for your photo gallery as well.  Min.us also allows you to download the files in ZIP format, which makes it easy to share with students or fellow teachers.  When visiting the site for viewing Min.us it presents the photos in a slide-show format with the current picture larger and the other pictures on the left or right smaller and faded out.  You can create an account and then view saved galleries in the future.

Min.us plans on expanding the site to allow users to share docs, videos, music, and other files in the future.  To learn more about Min.us, visit their Blog and Terms of Service.

Letter Grade Traits

What does an A, B, C, D, F really mean to a student?  How do you let your students know what the grade they received really means?  Does an A mean that you had a student excel in class, or just do the necessary work to get the grade?  Last night I got to thinking about grades, not sure why, but there is a lot of talk about the value of grades in education.  A recent post by Nick Provenzano asked What is an A Worth?  I often wonder that myself now.

I discovered that it might be important to provide your letter grades personality.  Let students know the REAL reason they received that letter grade.  Let me explain

A - A is for Attitude.  Chances are students with a positive attitude were some of your best students.  Let students know that the reason they received that grade is that their attitude about school work allowed them to succeed.  There attitude about coming to school and learning will allows them to succeed in the future.

B  - B is for Believe.  Students believe in themselves.  They believe in the teacher.  They believe in school work.  They don't have the attitude to reach A Level.  They let other things interfere with their potential success.  They believe in doing their best and if a B is their best, they believed that they succeeded.

C - C is for Concentrate.  Most students who are average students do their best just to concentrate on school work and leave class happy with a C.  The problem is that the students with a C personality trait tend to spend to much time concentrating on things other then school work to actually be above average.  They don't believe in hard work, and they lack a positive attitude about school.

D - D is for Disrespectful.  It is hard for a student to succeed when they have little respect for peers, teachers, administration, and the school.  This disrespect leads to the inability to concentrate on their work, believe in themselves and school, or develop an positive attitude.  Their disrespect can sometimes hamper your students who just try to focus on concentrating on their school work.

F - F is for Flashy.  These are your students who brag about getting an F, or think that failing is no big deal.  They are "too cool for school."  They lack or have yet to find the other traits important enough to no longer be flashy.  These kids must be shown the way.  They must be made to turn away from the need to be flashy.  You got to earn their respect and then make them concentrate on their school work.  They will then start to believe in doing better in school and develop a better attitude.

Not sure if this really makes any sense, but it was in my mind, and felt like sharing.  What are your thoughts?  Do you agree?  Disagree?  Do you have a trait that you would put with letter grade?

What if when we graded a students paper we put a trait instead of a letter?